Abstract: Fruit ripening characteristics of antisense transgenic lines ale1 and ale2 respectively from ethylene receptor genes LeETR1 and LeETR2 were studied. Compared to the wild type, transgenic lines disp layed that respiration rate decreased, whereas ethylene production increased 1 - 4 folds, which suggest that starting time of fruit ripening were not affected. At later stage of ale1 fruit ripening, a-value, carotenoid and lycopene contents was lower than that in wild type fruit. Although the speed of fruit coloring slow down in ale1, the polygalacturonase increasing and firmness decreasing were sped up. The results suggest that there is some intricate relation between LeETR1 and fruit ripening.

Key words: Tomato, Ethylene receptor gene, Fruit ripening